Public schools are No. 1

Written by Carrie Schmelkin, Reporter
Friday, 06 November 2009 14:28

New Canaan Public Schools has recently emerged at the top of its reference group, ranking No. 1 in education for Connecticut towns with populations of 15,000 to 25,000 residents, according to the November issue of Connecticut Magazine.

Beating out the Wilton and Darien districts, ranking second and third respectively, New Canaan topped 29 schools because of high standardized test scores and its percentage of students that move on to college.

“It reflects a lot of great work on the part of our teachers and administrators and obviously our students,” Superintendent of Schools Dr. David Abbey told the Advertiser Tuesday. “It reflects the great support we get from our community.”

And community support was certainly felt as school administrators, faculty and parents packed the Wagner Room in New Canaan High School at the last two Board of Education meetings, anxious to hear how New Canaan students fared on the SAT, SAT IIs, Advanced Placement exams, Connecticut Academic Performance Test (CAPT) and Connecticut Mastery Test (CMT).

SAT and SAT II

While 2008 was the “banner year” for New Canaan SAT scores, High School Principal Tony Pavia told board members the scores in 2009 still stacked up well against the district’s previous marks.

Students averaged 591 on critical reading, 590 on writing and 601 on math, placing them fourth overall in the district’s reference group. The group includes comparable schools such as Westport, which ranked first overall, and Darien and Wilton.

All three scores were also well above state averages, and New Canaan placed second in the reference group in both reading and math, and fifth in writing. While scores were still in the upper part of the reference group, the district slipped from its No. 1 spot in reading and math scores and its No. 2 spot in writing in 2008.

“Nationally, this year the trend was that reading and writing went down numerically and math remained steady,” said Pavia.

The gender gap on the math section went down this year, however, with 85 percent of males scoring at least 500 with females close behind at 83 percent.

This year’s successes can be attributed to the administration embedding critical reading, math and writing skills in the core academic programs, High School Assistant Principal Larry Sullivan told school board members.

In addition, new reading rubrics that were implemented by the English Department allow for better tracking of students’ strengths and weaknesses, he said.

Like the SAT, students showed overall strength on SAT subject tests, having some of the highest scores ever.

Student performance on English literature, United States history and Math IC were at an all-time high, at 644, 715 and 646 respectively, along with Spanish and Latin scores at 683 and 635.

Advanced Placement (AP)

Out of the 375 AP tests that were taken in 2009 by New Canaan students, 92 percent scored a three or better on a five-point scale.

More than half of those students earned a top score of five on their AP exam, with only eight students earning a one or a two.

“Some of the highest numbers are in European history or United States government and politics,” said Pavia, adding that nearly 100 percent of students scored a three or above.

Similarly, New Canaan students performed well on the biology and calculus AB exams. Five of the seven students who took the science exam scored a five, and all 10 students who took the math test scored a five.

This year also marked a bigger number of test takers at 217, up from 206 last year.

Of those who took the exams, five were deemed national scholars for receiving an average grade of at least four on all AP exams and scoring four or better on eight or more exams.

More than a third of test takers received AP honors for their high scores, according to the presentation.

CAPT

“This school has done considerably better over the past three years,” said Pavia, referring to results from the CAPT, which assesses 10th graders in reading, writing, math and science.

Out of the 319 students tested, 74 scored the highest level of five on all four tests, placing New Canaan first in its reference group for schools reaching this accomplishment.

This year, students also topped their reading scores, with 85.2 percent reading at or above the board goal level, compared with 82.4 percent in 2008.

“It is the highest raw score we ever had and the highest in reference group,” said Pavia, noting that New Canaan ranked No. 2 this year, up from fourth in 2008. “Five or six years ago we were at the bottom consistently.”

Similarly, New Canaan placed in the top three of the group for science and math, at second and third respectively.

While administrators worked to close the gender gap on the CAPT, the district still “mirrored the gender disparity” that exists nationally, said Pavia.

Almost 91 percent of males performed at or above goal on the math section, in comparison with 81.5 percent of females. The disparity was also apparent in science scores, with 82.6 of males and 73 percent of females reaching goal.

Reading scores showed a “huge leap” this year, however, said Pavia, as 81.1 percent of males performed at goal, up from 75.2 percent in 2008 and 65.3 percent in 2007. The majority of both female and male students are also reading at the most advanced level, at 52.6 percent, up from 47.3 percent in 2008.

CMT

New Canaan held the strongest overall performance in nearly 20 categories on the CMT for its reference group, having successfully made strides from last year to improve students’ reading and writing abilities.

“It’s always a pleasure to present our results to you and especially this year,” Deputy Superintendent of Schools Dr. Mary Kolek told school board members. “We have good news for you.”

The CMT measures performance in reading, writing and math for grades three through eight, and science in grades five and eight. This year’s scores show that on seven of the 20 subtests, students performed at the top of the reference group and that more than 50 percent of students are performing at the most advanced level.

The nation has been looking to close the gender gap at the elementary and middle school levels, according to Kolek, and New Canaan has been successful in reducing the gap in many of the grades.

The difference between males and females who perform at goal on reading in third grade is less than two percentage points, while the difference in seventh grade is about one percentage point.

Similarly, students in grades four, six, seven and eight show little to no gender variance in math. Science scores also show this gap becoming marginalized, as 92.8 percent of females in grade five performed at or above goal, compared with 91.7 percent of males. In eighth grade, 90.7 percent of females and 91 percent of males reached the goal.

Administrators said they will continue to look for ways to help students who struggle, as well as challenge those who already perform at the highest levels.

“We have to raise the performance for every child so that even the highest scoring students feel challenged by the test every year,” said Saxe Middle School Principal Greg Macedo.

“We can’t leave our best and brightest behind,” he added.